The new year brings with it the hope that things can get better. And they frequently do
One of the explanations for why the first month of the Gregorian calendar is called January comes from the Roman god Janus, a two-faced deity who looked simultaneously to the past and to the future. The turn of the year is, of course, an arbitrary date: events, actions, hopes and dreams, none can be evenly divided by the changing of a date.
But it is still traditionally the moment when we look at ourselves and at the world around us and hope for better times. That optimism is part of what makes us human – and also, frequently, is misplaced.
Things, after all, don’t always get better. The turn of the year from 2013 to 2014 didn’t improve the Syrian civil war. The war only worsened. Life in Raqqa and Mosul was worse throughout 2015 than it had been the year before . Those are only the most high profile examples. There are countless others.
At the same time, much improved in the world in 2015, and it has done so through bold action. It was a bold decision for Saudi Arabia to lead a coalition including the UAE to go into Yemen to restore the internationally-recognised government. It was a bold decision by German chancellor Angela Merkel to accept so many Syrian refugees, even while they were demonised by other European countries. It was even a bold decision by parts of the Iranian government to accept the possibility of a nuclear deal.
On a smaller scale, too, there have been so many brave and bold responses in the face of terrible situations – those standing up against ISIL, against the Houthis, against the Assad regime. And in their daily lives, people often take bold actions to change their own lives or those of the people around them.
So perhaps the other lesson to be gleaned from Janus is the importance of looking both to the past and the future to understand the present. Yes, things can always get worse. They frequently do. But more frequently – much more frequently – they get better. And when they do, it is because of bold action, of understanding the past and of charting a course to a better future.
As a newspaper, we wish our readers all the best for this year – and we will be charting the highs and the lows of the world around us in 2016.
